Talking about some of the games I’ve reviewed in 2025 that have left me fairly underwhelmed.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:42 Visions of Mana
03:00 Dragon Quest 3
05:41 Rise of the Ronin
06:50 Assassin’s Creed Shadows
08:32 Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
10:31 Mafia The Old Country
11:53 Bloodlines 2
14:32 Wrap Up
Intro Music By Juan Andrés Matos, http://www.juanmatosmusic.com/
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Info On Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGD7dF8HCEM
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#gaming #gamereviews
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Nwn2 ED flew right past me, lol.
Does not even look good for a rerelease.
agree with Visions of Mana. But it's not too much of a disappointment for me that I found it a bad game. For me , it's still a good game but it could've been a great one for sure. I love the art style, combat and ost but the story is too childish at times for its own good. It tries to explore complex subjects like sacrifice and fallen hero but it doesn't want to delve deeper due to the series' DNA often focus on its lighthearted moments. But the biggest weakness the game has is its sidequest. Oh god, the sidequests are just horrible. They're just fetch quests without any interesting story about the characters or the world. Some of the rewards are good but the quests are just so repetitive that it hurts doing them.
There are some good points that Square can keep for the next Mana game that I would hope Square can greenlight another Mana game but this time much more focused and brave to get serious with its story.
I never really played dragons dogma 1 until after I played the second game, and I have to say, I love both of them, but I much prefer the combat in 2. The way all of the systems and mechanics interact are unlike any other game I've played. The one thing 1 does better in my opinion is endgame content. Theres a point in dragons dogma 2 where there are just no new enemies to fight and no new abilities to unlock, so combat gets stale. I would have loved if there were an everfall in 2 to give us something to do other than the unmoored world.
Aspyr comsistejtly dissapoints
Silksong was a bit of a roller coaster in terms of recpeption but personally I was blow away by the immense scale of the game and really enjoyed the combat!
Also finally been going back and playing the original trails in the sky games, excellent JRPGs, first chapters ending really got me even after all these years
I LOVED Mafia the old country. I got the platinum trophy. And I RARELY go for platinums. My last one before Mafia was RoboCop rogue city
Bloodlines 2 doesn't even have a manual save option and that's where it breaks my immersion
As someone who loved Dragon Quest, and farmed the monster metals for the GBC version… I'm glad I stopped before the bonus dungeon. Only thing that I was disappointed with in that remake was the lack of Parchisi tracks
I appreciate your in depth timely non-biased , informed reviews, thank you .
Rise of the Ronin was so close to great, and so sad.
A sequel could be amazing, but it’s a bit iffy yeh.
If nothing else, having co op only in like….5% of the game is such a waste of
I was so excited for DQ3. I loved it so much as a kid. It was amazing. I could not wait for the remake. I was disappointed lol. It was good but I got tired of the random battles every couple seconds. It's one of those games that it's not a good as I remember. It looks beautiful though
When I heard "enhanced edition" is "the old version of the game for slightly more money" I nearly blew my breakfast out of my nose. So the only thing that was enhanced was the price? 😂
Glad you overall liked Dragon Quest III, haven't picked it up yet but its been on my list and I was worried there were big reasons not to.
Oof, I didn't know the job classes in DQ3 get reset every time you change. That makes no sense. Never played the original trilogy… Now I'm hesitant to ever do so, unless they somehow change that. But it's Square Enix. That don't do shit. Lol.
And of course Aspyr did basically nothing for NWN2. They're remasters are so barebones. It's not like they don't have the money to put a little more effort into them.
I absolutely loved AC shadows. My favourite I years
I'm 154 hours in so far and still love playing it.
I agree with your list except Rise of the Ronin, I was hoping they'd add an expansion 😂
Troika Games' Bloodlines 1 is one of the best games I have ever played. The fact they went defunct because they couldn't find a publisher for their next game is mind boggling to me.
Assassin's shadows was honestly exactly how i imagined it when i watched the first trailer, a pretty mid game and mediocre assassin's creed game.
NieR: Automata is a brilliant game (should've gotten GOTY that year tbh but Zelda fans were too hyped for BotW).. You should play it in a gaming dry-spell, if you haven't.. or after a lot of disappointing games lol.. it inspired some of Expedition 33, certainly. (and imo does it's kind of music fr better) Fair warning though: after you finish it, you might have a hollow feeling like you want another game or experience like it but there really isn't.. May you enjoy that first playthrough, if/when you ever get to it.
ROR was pure disappointment. You were far too kind.
Two games I didn't know if I would even like, let alone fall madly in love with, are Ender Lilies / Ender Magnolia and Tails of Iron 1+2. Technically 4 games, but two hopefully continuing franchises! Indie games, but absolutely amazing and worth checking out! 😊
Ronin, shadows and mafia were really good. Ah well. To each their own
Mortismal, you forgot Football Manager 26….
Just kidding. Thanks for the fine work!
The Division 2 is my surprise Game of the year. A gear system which feels good…. just need more space to store my loot
I don't agree with Rise of The Ronin's inclusion but yeah.
Such a long wait for Bloodlines… what a let-down sadly
100% agree about Visions of Mana, my personal biggest gaming disappointment in the last few years.
Assassin's creed Shadows is my second best game i played this year.
If only they’d let them name bloodlines 2 something else…